Tactical Talk

Massad Ayoob explores "What Cops and Armed Citizens Have In Common" in the January 2025 issue of American Handgunner. I’d like to believe “America’s police and nation’s armed citizens have much in common…natural allies in the war on crime.” But I can’t fully accept it. In all the CCW courses I’ve taught, I stressed that your carry permit does not make you an ‘associate’ police officer or give you special powers. That’s the first big difference. While it is an attractive fantasy that during a spree shooting or armed robbery, the armed citizen would, by force of arms, stop the crime. Perhaps even apprehend the criminal for the police. I fall victim to this myself. I cannot tell you how often while watching the news I think, if only an armed citizen was present. But ask the next question. Who would I shoot? You might assume the criminal is trying to drag another ...

The Secret to the IDPA SO Test

IDPA is changing. The International Defensive Pistol Association has changed and not for the better. Accompanying this change is the requirement that current SOs test out on the new rule book. IDPA should be about shooting your best tactics and having fun. IDPA has tightened the rules in an effort to eliminate cheating and level the playing field. This has lost IDPA the sense of wonderment that came with a sport that let you try out your tactical skills and compare them to other shooters. The comment “Good tactics!” from an experienced IDPA shooter meant more than winning first place. Now it’s about points, power factors, challenging the scores and rulings and legal dissection of distances, word meanings, management levels, and being a five gun master. There was a time when we asked each shooter if they understood the course of fire and if they didn’t, the safety officer would re-explain it. No...

Devil Dog Side Charger

In general, I keep my self-defence tools stock, at least I thought so until I went over my list of modifications. Most of my modifications are user transparent. My AR has the same basic control as any rack-grade rifle. Why? I don’t want to condition myself to reach for a control that might not be there if I grab a non-customized rifle. I added a larger trigger guard for a gloved finger, an ambidextrous charging handle to facilitate clearing jams and other problems, and a light for low-light operation. A group of Marine Veterans have formed a company called... My intention to remain largely stock may change. Recently, Kevin Dockery (author of 'Stalkers and Shooters') showed me a side hard charger that converts your stock AR to a left-hand side charger from Devil Dog Concepts. https://devildogconcepts.com/ I thought, “Is this a solution looking for a problem?" The side charger fits on your rail and is anchored with set screws After I looked...

Survey Says….

American Handgunner’s Tom McHale asked a few interesting questions as part of a reader’s survey in the March/April issue. Excellent questions. So why not take advantage of them? I'll paraphrase them. What’s your grip, Weaver or Isosceles? I had to think about that. On the square range, practicing my draw stroke or reloading, I use a lot of Isosceles. But not exclusively. Several months ago, I tore the rotator cuff in my non-dominant shoulder. I couldn’t use Isosceles. I remembered hearing that Jeff Cooper had elbow trouble, which pushed him into Weaver stances. It turns out Weaver worked well for me, and I spent the time tuning it up before my surgery. Jeff Cooper and his Classic Weaver Stance - I tend to bring my elbows in closer to my body As I thought about it, I realized that when I pie/clear corners, I transfer my handgun to the side leading around the corner. Here, if there is space, I used Chapman....

The Cardboard Whisperer

Stay....Stay.....Easy boy!...

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